InfoStrat.VE: Integrating Virtual Earth 3D into WPF and Surface Applications for Mere Mortals

Virtual Earth 3D has many applications, but until recently has only been practical on the web with a JavaScript interface.  WPF applications could not use the full potential of Virtual Earth 3D without requiring a WPF wizard and some XAML magic due to Win32 interop limitations.

Information Strategies (InfoStrat) has the solution.  They created a WPF / Surface control, InfoStrat.VE, and are sharing with the community on CodePlex.  This control provides a WPF interface for the Virtual Earth 3D control, complete with data binding for camera control and WPF-based pushpins. All Win32 restrictions (air space control, no rotation or visual brush) are eliminated.  Microsoft Surface is also supported.

Watch the interview to learn the history behind the control, see it in action, learn how to get started, and even contribute back to the community.

The video is a little long, so we have provided a timeline below in case you want to skip to specific sections:

00:00     Introduction / Background

10:18     DEMO: Surface application using InfoStrat.VE

15:00     CodePlex project / code walkthrough

38:15     DEMO: Surface application using advanced capabilities in action

43:08     Wrapup / community call to action